Muslim leader clarifies jihad call
JAKARTA (JP): Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid insisted on Monday jihad was not a call for war, but for struggle against carnal desires such as anger, brutality and violence.
"The spirit of the call for jihad is not to harm others," said Abdurrahman in response to growing calls by Muslims for a jihad in Ambon, the riot-ravaged capital of Maluku.
"I strongly disagree when religion is used to threaten people," said Abdurrahman, who is chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Muslim organization, at his office in Central Jakarta.
"Prophet Muhammad defined jihad akbar as strong self-control," said Abdurrahman.
"If people misunderstood the call... and thronged to Ambon without realizing the true spirit (of the jihad)... imagine the bloodshed," he said.
At least 182 people have been killed and hundred others injured since clashes between Muslims and Christians erupted in mid-January in Maluku. Muslim leaders have described the attacks against their community as the ethnic cleansing of Muslims. Christian leaders have denied this claim, saying the situation has degenerated into an orgy of senseless murders committed by both sides.
An estimated 50,000 people, mostly migrant Muslims, have fled Maluku, returning to their hometowns in Southeast and South Sulawesi.
A number of Muslim organizations, including the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front, have pledged to send their members to Maluku for a jihad, while other groups, including Muhammadiyah and the United Development Party, have offered to send "volunteers" to the province if the government approves the move.
A fact-finding mission of the Al Falah Mosque in Surabaya, East Java, revealed on Monday the bloody and deplorable tragedy had political motives and to a certain extent constituted religious strife, although in the beginning triggered by 1,000 Ambonese criminal provocateurs sent from Jakarta.
The team said the Ambonese hoodlums had been transported in batches on board of Pelni ships starting on December 4, 1998.
Separately, Minister of Religious Affairs Malik Fadjar said calls for jihad must not be taken in an emotional manner.
"The calls made by Muslim leaders to defend the sovereignty of Islam must not be thought of as calls for war," Malik said after a meeting on poverty alleviation here.
"Jihad must be understood as an effort to curb and handle problems occurring in Ambon. Do not see things in a narrow perspective. Jihad must be seen in a wider context."
Malik also urged Muslims leaders not to use strong rhetoric which could incite anger and emotional outbursts.
"They have to enlighten people rather than provoke them. Very often leaders' remarks become misinterpreted at the grassroots level."
Malik said the problems in Ambon had become a matter of national importance. "It is very complex... so do not make things worse."
The coordinator for the independent Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, Munir, also said jihad must be defined as a call to end violence.
"It is meant as an effort to end violence and prevent any more victims," Munir told Antara. (edt)